Cervical Cancer Screening HPV refers to Human Papillomavirus, and what does it mean that human papillomavirus infection is the culprit of cervical cancer? What does that mean? It means that one of the clear causes of cervical cancer is human papillomavirus infection, also known as HPV infection. The reason why there is a vaccine for cervical cancer is that the cause of the disease is clear, it is HPV infection, so HPV infection is also a very important concern in our cervical cancer screening.